AN: Thanks to everyone who followed and favorited my story and a special thanks to Merurun and Lioness2012 for the reviews! It's all so encouraging.
"Let him go" Clarke said as she walked up to Wells.
The chancellor's son did as he was told and let go, much to Rosa's relief. She ran up to Murphy but before she could do anything he lunged at Wells.
"Enough" Bellamy caught him. "Octavia!" he ran up to his sister as soon as she came into view. She seemed to be hurt and was limping.
Rosa wrapped her slender fingers around Murphy's arm, turning him to face her. He didn't look her in the eyes. She was still furious at him but that would have to wait. The blonde used her other hand to turn his face and inspect the bruises that were already forming. Concern painted her features as Murphy finally looked at her and she cupped the side of his face in her hand.
"I'm glad you're okay" she sighed, worry leaving her face "but really John…"
"Yeah, I know. I'm an asshole, a criminal, a pathetic excuse for a human being" he sighed, tilting his head back. She flinched as he quoted her earlier outburst.
He looked away from her, any hint of sarcasm gone "I'm sorry you had to see that."
Rosa bit her lip, looking concerned "Me too."
When he kept looking at the ground intently she continued.
"What on earth made you think that was a good idea?"
Once again, he made no reply. Rosa was about to continue shaming him until she got a reply but Bellamy drew her attention first.
"Where's the food?" he asked, looking to Clarke.
"We didn't make it to Mount Weather" Finn answered for her as he sat on a rock.
"What the hell happened out there?" Bellamy raised his voice.
"We were attacked" Clarke explained, looking scared.
It was then that Rosa noticed they were one man short. Jasper was not among them.
"We're not done here" she hissed to Murphy under her breath and approached Clarke.
"Attacked? By what?" Wells asked.
"Not what. Who." Finn corrected him.
Rosa froze in her tracks. Did this mean they weren't alone? I made sense, since even they'd managed to survive and the land was full of natural resources. The news was no less shocking though. Clarke and Finn confirmed what they'd just said and the kids around them began to murmur. The grounders were hostile.
"Clarke" Rosa finally managed "Jasper's missing. Is he…?" Rosa feared the worst for the poor boy.
"Jasper was hit. They took him" she replied. Rosa took this to mean he might not be dead.
Clarke then glanced over at Wells.
"Where's your wristband?" she asked disdainfully.
"Great, here we go again" Rosa thought.
Wells glared at Bellamy.
"How many?" She asked the rebel leader.
"Twenty-four and counting" Murphy answered for him. Rosa shot him an angry look.
Clarke addressed the crowd of teenagers, telling them that the Ark was dying and they needed the earth to be survivable. So that's why she'd been locked up. She knew too much. Rosa knew from experience that the right information could hold incredible value.
Just as Bellamy began to argue with Clarke, Rosa decided she'd had enough. She grabbed Murphy by the arm and pulled him all the way to the dropship.
"Let go" Murphy jerked his arm out of her grasp as she stopped behind the dropship.
"I thought we talked about this, are you trying to get Danny and the others killed?!" Rosa finally let loose.
"Rosa, please, this is our chance to start over" Murphy sounded sincere.
She just stared at him, her face a mixture of confusion and anger.
"Do you really think the higher-ups are gonna pardon us if they come down here?" Murphy took her silence as a chance to continue "I'm doing this for you Rosa. If they come down here they'll just lock us up and I'll never see you again. Even if they don't, we'll be lucky if they let us clean their boots."
"Murphy…" Rosa's face softened.
"I want us to be happy, we can have a good life here" he continued.
She looked thoughtful for a moment.
"I understand, John, but I'm worried about you" she looked him in the eyes "be careful what you sacrifice to get what you want. You might just lose something more precious along the way."
Murphy was silent. She lifted a hand to brush his bangs out of his face.
"No one has your back like I do, you know that" she smiled slightly and he nodded "just, please understand I'm not willing to abandon my friends" her tone was serious.
"Fine" he huffed and turned to leave.
"Hey" she grabbed his shoulder "one last thing. What is going on between you and Bellamy?"
Murphy looked uncomfortable and shuffled his feet "What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb. I warned you about him and you keep running around doing his bidding, acting like his bitch. Did he make a deal with you?" Rosa narrowed her eyes at him.
"Screw you. I'm not his bitch" he tried to avoid the question.
"Murphy, tell me." The way she looked at him left no room for argument.
"Okay," he sighed, holding his hands up in surrender "he said I'll be his second in command if I help him."
"Huh" Rosa thought for a moment.
Bellamy seemed very determined to be in command. She wondered as to how many others he'd proposed this deal to. Being power-hungry was one thing but he had to have at least one other reason to be doing all this. She thought back to when she'd told Bellamy that Murphy was like family to her, how his face had softened. Maybe he and Murphy were aiming for the same thing. They both wanted to make the world safe for the person they cared for the most. Rosa realized that Bellamy figured this would be the best way to give Octavia the happiness and freedom he hadn't been able to give her on the Ark.
"I'm not gonna back out, if that's what you're thinking" Murphy interrupted her thoughts.
Rosa looked up at him "I'm not asking you to."
He raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised "what?"
"He tried to get me to help him too" his brow furrowed at her words "I guess it can't hurt if he thinks we're on his side. He doesn't trust me, but I can find a way to fix that. Bear with me Murphy, I have a plan."
He stared at her as she plotted. He loved it when she got all involved in her grand ideas. No wonder her gang of thieves followed her. She was the type to sit on the side-lines and watch the power games play out, all the while pulling the strings. He'd always admired her, she was strong, smart and so beautiful… wait, what was he thinking?
"This is Rosa we're talking about." He mentally slapped himself "she's way too good for you, you'd just hurt her."
It was only the hundredth time he'd had to push thoughts of her being more than his friend from his mind. On the Ark the easy girls that would hang around him and his friends would keep his mind occupied. But since he'd been locked up and particularly now, on the ground, thoughts of Rosa were all the more frequent.
"Hello?" Rosa brought him out of his daze, looking annoyed "are you listening to me?"
"Uhh…" he couldn't believe how dumb he sounded.
She rolled her eyes "I was saying we should let him think we're helping him. He knows how to talk to a crowd: he tells them what they want to hear. He'll keep us safe around camp but we can't rely only on him. We have to be prepared. The threats are either internal or external. We have to make allies, Murphy, so that means no more trying to burn girl's faces."
It was Murphy's turn to roll his eyes "I wasn't really gonna do it. Besides, I said I'm sorry."
"Yeah whatever" she continued "as for external threats, we're better of sticking with the group. It's better for survival. We need to have an escape plan though, in case things go wrong."
Murphy nodded.
"I'll take you to that bunker I found, come on" she turned to leave and he followed.
The two circled the dropship and saw Clarke talking to Bellamy. Murphy paused under the rebel leader's gaze. Rosa stopped too. She saw the two leaders were getting ready to go somewhere. Clarke turned and followed Bellamy's gaze.
"Rosa" Clarke said when she saw her "I've been looking for you."
"Oh" Rosa was hesitant "what for?"
"We're going to find Jasper. I hear you can handle yourself, we could really use your help" she answered, coming to stand in front of her.
"Jasper, yeah…" Rosa wanted to help, he was a nice kid after all, but now wasn't the time.
Just then Bellamy appeared behind Clarke "Murphy, you're with me."
"Atom" He addressed one of his gang "my sister doesn't leave this camp, is that clear?"
"I don't need a babysitter" Octavia was clearly annoyed.
Murphy and Rosa looked at each other as Bellamy barked out orders and argued with his sister. It looked like they didn't have a choice but to go with them, leaving on their own now would be seen as very suspicious.
"Let's go!" Bellamy finally ordered.
Rosa sighed and began trailing behind Clarke and Wells. Murphy sidled up to Bellamy and the group left camp. Clarke seemed like a strong girl and besides, she represented Rosa's interests more than Bellamy did. Rosa knew she'd be better off with her as an ally. Perhaps this rescue mission wasn't just side-tracking her plans. If Rosa could prove to Clarke and Wells that she could be helpful maybe they'd accept and help her. The only problem was trying to smooth things over with Bellamy at the same time. This wasn't going to be easy.
AN: I hope you guys enjoyed, next chapter will be from Danny and the gang's point of view. See you next time!
